Cherry Murray

Cherry Murray is currently on sabbatical at the University of Arizona, where she is Director of the Biosphere2 Institute with a focus on the nexus of environment, water, food, and energy, developing solutions for global sustainability.

Murray obtained both a BS and a PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research interests have varied from experimental condensed matter and surface physics to nanotechnology; innovation, research, and development of telecommunications networks; national security; and science and technology policy. Her current interests include policy, research, development, and innovation to sustain human civilization on future Earth.

From 1978 to 2004, Murray held a number of research positions at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, formerly AT&T Bell Laboratories and previously Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. Murray began as a Member of Technical Staff within the Physical Research Laboratory and finished her tenure as Senior Vice President for Physical Sciences and Wireless Research. She then served at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as Deputy Director for Science and Technology from 2004 to 2007, and as Principal Associate Director for Science and Technology from 2007 to 2009. She was dean of Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences from 2009 until 2014.

Murray served as the Director of the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Science from 2015 until 2017, overseeing $5.5 billion in competitive scientific research in the areas of advanced scientific computing, basic energy sciences, biological and environmental sciences, fusion energy sciences, high energy physics, and nuclear physics, as well as the management of 10 national laboratories.

A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Murray has received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation as well as the American Physical Society Maria Goeppart-Mayer Award and George E. Pake Prize. She served as president of the American Physical Society in 2009, and currently serves as Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fulbright University Vietnam and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.